Out of the Dragon's Flame and Into the Fire
by Tricked Wings
Summary: Life as a prince is hard. Your father arranging you to be wed to princesses you've just met, fighting strange arrays of evil creatures, and learning to be a wise ruler are hard enough as it is. Falling for your squire, which will get you burned at the stake, is just the icing on the cake. Medieval AU, Steve/Tony
1. Prologue

**AN: Just a warning, I take major poetic license with history here, so just an FYI for those of you who are history Nazis. I have done some research but this is more of a fantasy take on the Middle Ages anyway, so there's that.**

**No one will probably read this, but oh well. I want to write it, so I will. **

Once upon a time, there was a prince.

Of course, one might expect this story to continue with "he rescued a princess, married her, and lived happily ever after". This, however, is not one of those stories.

Our story begins during the rule of the King Howard, a member of the great line of Starks, all having intelligence greater than the average human being. His son, Prince Anthony, was no different.

Our prince had many talents, though one of his best was working with numbers and weapons. Numbers would not help one in the real world, but weapons would come in great handy, especially when you had a neighboring kingdom with a king who always wanted to invade your own.

While Anthony, who preferred to be referred to as Tony, was excellent with weapons, and they were a passion of his father's, he didn't exactly enjoy the conflict that came along with the trade. Though it wasn't like the royal family had to do any work, in fact, Tony preferred to not do much hands-on work, but he did enjoy coming up with plans and putting pieces together in his mind. Then, of course, giving directions to the metalsmiths who would craft everything for him. He was the prince, after all.

One particular day, Howard decided that Tony needed a personal servant, a squire of sorts. He was riding horses almost constantly, and Howard felt that he needed someone to go along with his son and assist him with whatever he required. So there was a search sent out, calling on every eligible man.

Once upon a time, there was a squire.

An aspiring squire, anyway.

Steven, for whatever reason, wished to be squire more than anything. It wasn't a noble line of work, nor was it easy. There was almost nothing redeeming about being a squire, in fact, but that was what he wanted to do.

Maybe it was the fact the Steven was selfless, practically to a fault, so he had a natural serving attitude, or maybe it was simply because he was foolish. Either way, being a squire was his aspiration, and he was going to do everything he could to achieve it.

So when one of the king's messengers came to his door, announcing that he was to go to the palace immediately, and Steven found out that it was because there was to be a squire chosen for Prince Anthony, he was more than willing to drop everything and be on his way.


	2. Chapter 1: Late is My Middle Name

**AN: Wowza, this got a lot more of a response then I thought it would! So, without further ado, here is the first chapter for all of you. Sorry if it seems boring, but that's neccessary for setting a scene and getting the background all sorted out. We'll get into the more interesting and exciting stuff later on. **

**And on to the story!**

* * *

Prince Tony huffed, climbing down from his chestnut stallion. He really didn't want to have to do this today, or ever.

He led his horse to the stable, where the stable boy grabbed its reigns and started leading it to its proper stall. "Take good care of Jarvis, will you?"

"Of course, Prince Anthony. You tell me that every time," the stable boy commented offhandedly, removing the saddle from Jarvis.

Tony ignored the use of his full name, and continued on his way to the throne room, where his father had demanded he was to be at mid-day. Tony glanced up at the sky as he crossed the courtyard, and according to sun, he was probably late. All he had really wanted to do today was explore a new area of woods outside the castle.

As he opened the heavy wooden door, Tony could feel frustration permeate the air he'd just released. Inwardly cringing, he walked in to face his father.

"Anthony," his father said, much frustration behind his faux-calm voice. "What did I say about being here at mid-day?"

Tony quickly glanced at the line of men beside his father before replying, "I'm sorry, Father. It will not happen again." Even though Tony knew full well that he would most likely be late again sometime in the near future.

"See that it doesn't." Howard walked over and grabbed Tony's shoulder, directing him to where he had previously been standing. "Now, what are we here to do today?"

Tony sighed. "I'm here to pick a squire to assist me with anything I might need," he said dryly. Honestly, Tony felt he could operate just fine on his own. He didn't see why his father felt the need to force some peasant to do most of his work for him. He never had much work to do anyway, and when he did, it was simple stuff that he already had other people for.

"Correct. See one you'd like to be your squire?"

Tony rolled his eyes. Looking at people as though they were pigs at a market didn't settle right with him, even if they were below him status wise. They were still human.

"Um…" Tony said, looking up and down the line of males standing up against the wall. He didn't give any of them a second glance, that is, until a particularly tall one caught his eye.

This man was tall, blond, and had the most exquisite blue eyes he'd had ever seen, and Tony had lived among royalty his entire life. There was some quality to him that intrigued Tony greatly, and his interest was suddenly focused completely on this one man.

So Tony, being ever blunt, walked right up to him and said, "Bet you're wed to a pretty beautiful dame."

Foolish; that was pure foolishness on Tony's behalf. He had no idea why he'd even said that, but he did, and now the man looked almost as red as a tomato.

"N-no, Your Highness. I have yet to be wed."

Tony still could not get over the fact that he had even asked such a question, and being called 'Your Highness' just made it even worse for whatever reason. "You can call me Tony," he said, hoping that made up for anything he had done to embarrass the blond.

"Anthony!" His father hissed. He thought it was bad enough that Tony was on first name basis with some of the castle staff, but telling a peasant he had just met to call him that awful nickname? That was crossing way too many lines as far as Howard was concerned.

The blond remained silent, seeming as though he was trying to decide if he should go through with calling the king's son 'Tony'. From his facial expressions, it looked to Tony as though it wasn't going to fly, and he was still going to be called 'Your Highness'.

"What's your name?" Tony asked. That seemed a normal enough question.

"Steven, Your Highness," Steven answered, looking less embarrassed and a lot more earnest than he had several moments ago.

Tony bit his tongue to keep himself from saying something he'd regret about the damned title. "Well, do you mind if I call you Steve?"

Steven looked taken aback. Prince Anthony seemed to be showing genuine interest in him, other than asking if he was married. "Yes, yes of course. You can call me anything you want, Your Highness."

Tony bit back an 'only if you promise to stop calling me that horrendous name' and asked, "How old are you, Steve?" He had a distinct feeling his father was grinding his teeth at the nickname.

"I am twenty years of age, Your-"

This time, Tony cut Steve off, saying, "How would you feel about being my squire?"

Steve's eyes went wide with surprise and shock. "W-What?" He stuttered. "Y-You mean it?"

"Yes, Anthony," his father said coolly, "What is this about? He's the only one you've spoken to."

"He's the only one I need to speak to," Tony replied, matching his father's tone. "He's only one year older than me, and he's the only one here that's interesting." He noticed that the faces of the other men looked indignant at his statement. "So, what do you say?"

Excitement pulsed through Steve's entire body. "Yes! Of course, Your-"

"On one condition; no more formalities. No more 'Your Highness's, 'My Liege's, or even 'Prince Anthony'. Just call me Tony," Tony said with a grin on his face.

"Yes, of course, Yo- er, Tony." A smile spread across Steve's face. He had been chosen as a squire! His life-long dream had come true!

Tony turned to face the rest of the men who remained in silence. "It's time for all of you to go home! Sorry, you have my deepest regrets that you didn't get picked, but oh well!"

With his words, the single file line shuffled out the door and started exiting the castle, heading back to their individual dwellings. The entire line-up, except for Steve.

"Anthony," Howard started. "I need a word with you," he glanced at Steve, "Alone."

"Would you excuse us for a minute?" Tony asked. "You can wait right outside; I'll be out in a minute."

"Right, of course." Steve bowed to both Howard and Tony before leaving the room, closing the door behind him.

"What was that about?" His father was on the edge of yelling.

Tony kept his cool. That always angered his father more than anything. "What was what about?" He asked smoothly.

"What-" His father sighed exasperatedly. "Why did you pick him as a squire, give him one of those damn names-"

"They're called nicknames," Tony replied.

"_Nicknames_, and telling him to call you by the one you gave yourself?"

"Well," Tony said, looking as though he were deep in thought. "I picked him for the exact reasons I gave you. He's interesting."

"Interesting?"

"Yes, interesting. I gave him a nickname because I wanted to, and 'Steven' is way too long. 'Steve' takes less time to pronounce. That way I won't be late again," Tony said, grinning. "And I hate all the damn titles we're always called, and I don't really like being called Anthony, so I told him to call me Tony. Because I _like_ that name. Hard concept to grasp, I know, the fact that your son could possible like something, but it's life."

"That doesn't mean you can- look," Howard said, sighing, "He is not your equal, Anthony, and you should not treat him as such. You are a prince, he is now a squire. The social difference is huge, and he is not there to be your friend. He's there to serve you."

Tony scowled at the ground, refusing to meet his father's eyes. "Yes, sir." And with that, Tony stalked out of the room.

* * *

Steve hurriedly followed the prince as he stalked down the long hallway that connected the throne room to the rest of the castle. "Your- Tony!" Steve called, rushing to catch up to him.

Tony whirled around, facing him, his expression softening almost immediately. "Oh, it's you, Steve."

"Yes, it's me," Steve replied, now walking beside Tony as the younger continued to walk.

They both walked in silence, passing the kitchens and the library, full of many books that Tony had nevered opened, past the servants' quarters, and finally, on the other side of the castle, they reached a huge staircase.

"Wow," Steve said in awe. "That's pretty long."

"It sure is," Tony replied, starting his way up the stairs. "And I have to walk it every morning and every night."

"Why? What's up here?" Steve asked, feeling rather dumb asking the question, but it had been a long day so far, with the anticipation and excitement.

Tony looked at him, amused. "My chambers. You know, where I sleep?"

Steve felt himself turning red. He should have known that. "And why are we heading up here?"

"Long story short; for a brief period of time, my parents were trying to have another child, namely a girl, to continue to carry on the family bloodline, in case I was killed or what have you," Tony waved his hand dismissively, as though that were something that would never happen. "So they had another room added on to the castle next to mine. That'll be your chambers."

Steve was shocked. "W-What? But, this is only where royalty is supposed to be! Kings, queens, princes and princesses, ladies-in-waiting-"

"Do you dare argue with the prince?" Tony asked in a mock-harsh tone.

Steve just looked at him in shock, the possible severity of what he'd just done washing over him.

Tony took notice of how horrified Steve looked, and chuckled. "I'm just joking, Steve. It's fine that you talk to me as you would talk to a friend. That's what I'm hoping we can be; friends. Not a squire and his master, but a friend and a friend." Tony smiled in an attempt to show Steve that what he was saying was genuine.

"That's not what King Howard seems to have in mind," Steve commented. What could happen if the king found out about how buddy-buddy his son was being with his squire was not anything good.

"My dad's being an ass," Tony replied, shrugging. "He always like this, except when he tries to get me to marry some princess from some neighboring kingdom."

"Really? He's tried to have you marry a princess before?" Steve had never really thought about how difficult life as royalty could be, but having only a select, small amount of women to choose from would be hard, not to mention, well, awful.

"About three times. And I'm supposed to be meeting with another one later on this month. Ugh," Tony shivered with disgust. "But, enough about me. What about you?"

"What about me?"

"What was your life like? Mine's all around rules, boring, princesses, status, and rules, though I don't obey them most of the time."

"Oh. Well, um," Steve paused for a moment. "My parents and I always lived as peasants, though we were farmers, to be exact. We raised wheat for our entire village, and would sell it for next to nothing at the market so that everyone could afford it." Steve sighed. "We gave up what we could have had if we charged more so that everyone could have more than they what they would have had if we had charged more. Sometimes we even gave some out for free, to widows and orphans."

Tony hadn't thought that his opinion of Steve could become any better than it already was, but it had just increased by four hundred percent. "Woah," he said, "You guys must have been pretty selfless people."

Steve gave a small smile at the compliment. "Well, we tried," he said sheepishly.

"Oh look, here we are!" Tony announced, stopping in front of a pair of large double doors, ornately decorated with metal and some kind of red gemstone.

Steve marveled at the doors alone, and when Tony opened the door, he did not anticipate what he saw inside.

One stone wall was lined completely with bookshelves and many, many books, most of which looked to be maps and records of the Stark lineage. Against a wall opposite that was the largest, nicest bed Steve had ever seen, though he slept on a sack of hay, so that wasn't saying much. The bed had tall cedar columns on each corner of the bed frame, also made of the gorgeous wood.

On the wall right across from the doors hung the most magnificent tapestry. A golden and red dragon was at it's center, rearing it's serpentine head with it's bat-like wings flared out.

"Wow," Steve breathed, mesmerized at the sheer regality of the room. "You want _me_ to have this room?"

"'Course," Tony said, like it was no big deal and he saw things like this all the time. Though his chambers were probably the same way, if not better.

"Well, I guess I'll let you get all settled in. I'll have the seamstress make you some new clothes, so those'll be up soon. And Pepper'll come by and tell you when supper is served. Don't be late," Tony said with a smirk, backing out of the room and closing the doors behind him.

"Who's Pepper?"


	3. Chapter 2: I Don't Like It

**AN: Wow. You guys are flattering me here with all your responses! I love you all!**

**And since you love the story so much, I would love to hear from you!**

* * *

Bursting through his own chambers' heavy doors, Tony made a beeline for his bed, and attempted to throw himself onto it. That, however, did not go as planned.

While his head did indeed hit the bed—bed frame, rather—the rest of him landed on the chilled stone floor. Lovely.

"Damn," Tony hissed, rubbing his now throbbing head. He was definitely going to get a big lump on the back of his head now.

Tony pushed himself up and, this time, crawled onto his bed before throwing himself face-down into his goose-feather pillow.

Every time Tony figured that he needed to think and collect himself, he would always do this. This being lay on his bed with his face in his pillow, which always smelled like him, though it did have a faint smell of apples, which he tended to sneak out of the kitchens. His father would constantly tell him that he shouldn't take food out of the kitchens or dining hall, because then rats would be attracted to wherever he had taken food. Tony ignored this and did what he wanted anyway.

Tony groaned and rolled over to face the ceiling. He did need to think, but what exactly he needed to think about, he was not sure. All that kept flooding his mind was one thing, and not even a thing. A person; one, damn person who he'd just met not even an hour ago.

Steve.

For whatever reason, the blond now-his-squire would not leave his mind alone. He didn't even know what to think _about_ Steve, just everything about him in general was bombarding Tony's thoughts.

It wasn't like Steve made him better. If anything, Steve made him act stupider. Like with the marriage question. What the hell had that been about? Tony had no idea what had possessed him to ask such a question, let alone what the feeling was that had washed over him after Steve had answered, "I have yet to be wed."

The only thing Tony could possibly, remotely relate to that feeling was relief. He'd experienced relief a whole lot in his nineteen years of life, such as when he had finally slain that ogre last summer. There was a relief there, the fact that the village it had been terrorizing was safe once again would have anyone feeling relieved.

No, that relief had been different than the relief he felt at the stupid wedding question. It was something weird, something strange, and something just plain… unusual. It wasn't something that Tony had felt before, and, to be honest, that scared him a little bit.

Look at him, a brave prince scared at an emotion. Tony threw an arm over his face, covering his eyes from the world. The horrible, cruel world, that had to have introduced him to Steve.

It wasn't that he didn't want to befriend Steve; he really did want to be friends with the blond. But Tony also wanted to not be made a complete fool of whenever he was around the other man. Looking like a fool was at the very top of Tony's "Things I Hate" list. He was genius; looking stupid completely undermined who he actually was.

But there was something about Steve that intrigued Tony to no end. Tony could not put his finger on it, no matter how hard he tried. For whatever reason, whenever Tony was around Steve, he'd get this feeling. This warm, happy feeling; that scared him even more than the relief. Ugh, he needed help.

Bruce. Tony sat straight up. Bruce would know _exactly_ what he was feeling and how to deal with it. Tony quickly made a mental note to pay a visit to the alchemist who spent most of his time in the castle laboratory.

Sifting through his other mental notes, Tony remembered that he had told Steve he'd go tell the seamstress to make some clothing for him. Tony grimaced. The seamstress was one of the last people Tony wanted to talk to. It wasn't like she was grumpy or anything, she was just… well, not someone Tony wanted to talk to.

On the other hand, he could just send Pepper to talk to the seamstress, and then he wouldn't have to go anywhere. Unfortunately, Steve would have to deal with the seamstress, he'd have to go down there in order for her to get the measurements, but if Steve was there, Tony could probably stand her long enough so that Steve wouldn't have to be down there alone. Yes, that seemed like an excellent idea.

Tony got up off his bed and raced towards his doors, opening them and running down the stairs as fast as possible, allowing the heavy wooden doors to close with a low 'bang'.

"Pepper! Pepper!" Tony called, hoping she wasn't too far. She could be out in the courtyard with the gardener, but he doubted that. She was usually inside past mid-day; it got too hot later on.

"Pepper!" Finally the redhead came in sight. She was heading into one of the libraries. Tony slowed down his pace and walked right up to Pepper, panting all the while.

"Prince Anthony," Pepper said, bowing ever-so-slightly. Tony always told the people he was closest to not to bother with formalities, but they didn't want to be hanged for disrespect or what have you by King Howard, so they continued acting as they were raised to. "What may I do for you?"

"Pepper, I need you to go talk to the seamstress and tell her that someone called Steve needs new clothing and that I said to use the same material she uses for my clothes, no exceptions."

Pepper raised an eyebrow. "The material used for _your_ clothes, Sire?"

"Is that not what I just said?" Tony asked, still trying to catch his breath completely.

"As you wish." Pepper sighed. "Who is this Steve fellow anyhow?"

Tony really didn't want to talk about him. Even thinking of the blond, picturing him in his mind, gave him those weird feelings, and he didn't like it one bit. "He's my friend."

"Your _friend_?" Pepper asked skeptically. She questioned Tony and his schemes, plans, and speech patterns a lot more a than a servant should, but Tony didn't mind. She was pretty much what he wanted her to be; the closest thing he had to a friend.

"Well," Tony started. "My father said he is supposed to be my 'squire', but I want him to be my friend. And I think I'm off to a pretty damn good start."

Pepper smiled. It was unusual to see Tony this enthusiastic about anything but fighting monsters and riding his horse into the woods. "Of course, Prince Anthony. I'll get down to the seamstress right away." With that, she turned around and started walking down the long hallway.

"Wait, Pepper, one more thing!" Tony called.

"What is it, Sire?" She asked, pausing and turning around once again to face the prince.

"Tell her I'll be joining them for his fitting."

Pepper raised an eyebrow; she seemed to find herself doing that a lot around Tony. Everything he did was eyebrow-raising in general.

When Tony saw the way Pepper was looking at him- like he said he'd just seen an ogre dancing gracefully with a horse colored pink- he quickly added, "I can't let Steve visit her alone! She's crazy!"

"Ah," Pepper said, still slightly suspicious of Tony's true intentions. But then again, what could his 'true intentions' possibly be. She would be concerned if he'd said he was joining some princess or woman in general for her fitting, but this was just his squire.

Pepper sighed, and continued on her way down the long hall, going to visit what Tony had deemed as the 'crazy seamstress'.

* * *

It had had to have been around at least several hours since Steve had been chosen as squire and entered into his room. It was all still so surreal; the entire thing seemed like a magnificent dream that he was sure to awake from.

Steve was wary of really touching anything in the room, even the bed. Everything was so grand, so amazing. It all appeared to be too marvelous for a peasant like him to touch.

_Then again_, Steve thought,_ I'm not a peasant any longer. I'm a squire for the prince now._

However, that didn't assure him in any way that he was indeed allowed to touch stuff. Not the bed, not the bookshleves with the hundreds of books, not the glorious tapestry on the wall, not even the windows. No, all that was intended for a princess, originally. It probably still was, in fact. Steve had no idea why Tony had put him in this room in the first place; he belonged down in the servants' quarters. But whatever the reason was, he couldn't argue with the prince, so he had made no effort in correcting what he believed to be a mistake on Prince Anthony's behalf.

So many people claimed that the prince was rude and generally mean, but Steve didn't see that. Tony had been been nothing but friendly and kind to Steve in the past few hours he'd spent here. Well, he could've been a bit- alright, a lot- more tactful with dismissing the other potential squires, but his dad was putting him under stress.

Steve sighed, finally giving in and sitting himself on the bed. Why was he making excuses for someone he barely knew? I mean, _everyone_ knew who the prince _was_, but they didn't know him as a person. The same applies for Steve, of course, because he had just really met Tony a couple hours beforehand. So why in all of the world was he making excuses for the seemingly rude behavior?

There was just something about Tony that made him easy to defend, Steve supposed. Or not even necessarily "easy to defend". But there was undeniably something that made Steve _want_ to jump in a defend Tony at all costs, no matter if he was wrong or right. Maybe that was just part of being loyal to your king, or prince in this case.

However, Steve couldn't help but feel there was something more than that. Loyalty was one thing; this, whatever it was, was another. It was happiness and joy, defensiveness and protectiveness, all rolled into one. It was odd.

Not a bad odd, mind you, a postive, happy odd. To say the least, it was a perfect feeling. A feeling one can never really describe, and that includes Steve himself. Though he wasn't very good with words to being with.

What was weighing somewhat heavily on his mind was the fact that he seemed to have assigned this feeling to Tony. The "why"s and "how"s be damned, he had no idea what this feeling was, let alone why he now associated it with Tony. And what was weighing on him even more was the fact that it had ever only been associated with one other person.

Peggy. Peggy had been Steve's bride-to-be. They had been engaged when he was eighteen, and they had loved each other dearly. She was gone now, gone from Earth, and hopefully in a better place.

A single tear streamed down the side of Steve's face. That happened every time he thought of Peggy, the only woman he ever had, and ever would have, loved.

* * *

**AN: Sorry for the shortness and boringness of this chapter. Again, establishing character and somewhat setting. The next chapter will be better, I promise!**

**Love you all!**


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